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It is entirely by coincidence that the Columbia County Board of Education opens discussion of its gloom-and-doom budget options for next year during national Teacher Appreciation Week.

On a week in which educators are celebrated, far too many of them are feeling threatened by ever-tightening budgets and increasingly bureaucratic demands that have little or nothing to do with teaching children.

There are many things about the death this past week of Larry Long that only add to the sense of loss.

He was a devoted husband, dad, grandfather. He was a veteran, having served as an Air Force pilot. He was a retired 41-year employee of Thermal Ceramics. His death was entirely unexpected, coming at age 79 to a man who, until having heart surgery, was in very good health.

All of us have little voices in our heads. They tell us what to do and what not to do in order to keep our sanity and make sure we do the right thing. Those are the good voices. We also have bad voices that try to convince us the good voices are ridiculous and we should just go ahead and do what we really want.

In the next few days, 18 elementary schools will close their doors for the summer. However, in the fall, only 17 schools will welcome students back for another term.

The Columbia County school system decided not to renovate three old neighborhood schools, instead consolidating them into two new school buildings that could house 1,000 students each. That figure is twice as much as any of the older three schools. Martinez and Evans Elementary would retain their school’s names and traditions, but Bel Air Elementary’s population would merge into the other two schools.

As I’ve been following the discussions about Clarks Hill Lake’s water levels, it seems like the water is finally rising after having been down forever. I’m not getting into the issues involving the U.S. Army corps of Engineers. Instead, I want to bring up a surprising scenario involving the lake at full level.

Instead, almost every one of the county’s 80,000 or so registered voters will count on me or someone else to tell us how the local governments plan to spend their tax money, as explained during budget hearings Tuesday.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s nice to be trusted to tell people about how their business is being handled. That’s basically any local media outlet’s long-standing social compact with its readers: We’ll go to all those government meetings so you don’t have to.

Now that a half-dozen train-hopping trespassers have had their 38 days in jail, and 15 minutes of fame, what can we learn from this episode?

If nothing else, let’s hope the county can figure out how to speed up hearings for people charged with minor crimes.

To recap, the six 20-somethings were arrested back in March when a CSX railroad police officer caught them hiding in a freight train that had stopped in Grovetown. The separate groups of young people had climbed aboard in Atlanta, with the intention of getting a free ride to Savannah for St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

When Columbia County commissioners settle on a new policy for blocking streets for races, parades and other gatherings, I hope it’s with a light hand.

Fortunately, commissioners seem inclined to head in that direction after county staffers proposed rules that would be a little heavier.

If you aren’t familiar with the discussion, basically it comes down to this: Something needs to be done so people who organize fundraiser footraces can understand that blocking a road is a bigger deal that just asking a cop to direct traffic.